Saturday Themeless by Erica Hsiung Wojcik and Matthew Stock
Erica is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Skidmore College.
Matt had a Saturday themeless collaboration a month ago with Amie Walker and is working on a Master's in Gainesville, Florida.
My last fill was changing LIRA to LIRE
Across:
1. Lorry driver, often: BRIT - In Britain, a truck is called a lorry, it drives on the left side of the road, runs on tyres, burns litres of petrol and has an engine covered with a bonnet.
5. Hoops: B-BALL. 😀 and 26. 5-Across sight: NET. Six Nebraska girl's teams will doing this in Lincoln today.
10. Like some meditation sessions: GUIDED.
12. Went back and forth: ARGUED - Does anyone listen?
14. Shaded colonnade: PERGOLA.
15. "Star Trek" empath Troi: DEANNA.
16. A lot for parents to manage?: STROLLER PARKING 😀
19. One responsible for many of Starbuck's orders: AHAB 😀 Captain AHAB gave orders to first mate Starbuck.
20. Self-righteous expression: SMIRK.
21. Super Monkey Ball maker: SEGA.
22. Canvas bags: TOTES.
24. Vast expanse: OCEAN and 33. Go over seas: SAIL - Tom Hanks and his pathetic SAIL on the vast expense
27. Familiar pattern?: TARTAN - It might have been clued as familial pattern.
29. __-mo: SLO.
30. III's nickname: TRE - If you have the same name as dad and grandpa...
31. Salt: TAR
32. Duolingo students, e.g.: USERS.
34. Ackbar's ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oft-quoted "Return of the Jedi" line: IT'S A TRAP.
38. Communications service with an AI assistant named Gemini: G-MAIL.
41. Stretches of concerts when the hits keep coming?: DRUM SOLOS 😀 Oh, those kind of hits!
43. "Attack!": SIC 'EM
45. Old Italian coins: LIRE - Striking this 20 LIRE coin turned out to be an embarrassment.
46. Be successful in: WIN AT.
48. Mother of Apollo and Artemis: LETO.
LETO Apollo Artemis
49. Main __: EVENT.
51. Israeli airline: EL AL.
53. Toned: FIT.
54. Danced to "Last Dance," perhaps: DISCOED - This video features Donna Summer's big voice and lots of people who DISCOED to her fun song!
57. Freshwater salamander native to Mexico's Lake Xochimilco: AXOLOTL - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't know the lake or animal and can't even pronounce them but they eventually appeared.
59. Not going anywhere, perhaps: AT HOME.
60. "Rhythm of the Night" R&B group: DEBARGE - The quintessential one-hit-wonders of the 80's
61. Gino's competitor: UNOS - If you're ever in Chicago...
62. Spot commodity?: DOG TOY 😀
Down:
1. Cheese from the Puglia region of Italy: BURRATA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2. Nobel Peace Prize laureate who founded Guatemala's first Indigenous political party: RIGOBERTA MENCHU ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3. Hot star: IDOL.
4. Giveaways: TELLS - Charles Emerson Winchester had a very obvious TELL. Every time he had a bad hand he started whistling louder. He got cleaned out.
5. Ink smear?: BAD PRESS 😀
6. Stage whisper?: BREAK A LEG.
7. Ingredient in the Japanese confection yokan: AGAR - A four-pack of AGAR to help make the desert on the box
8. Meatheads: LUNKS.
9. Permissive: LENIENT.
10. Near, in a way: GET HOT.
11. Matt's "House of the Dragon" role: DAEMON - Matt Smith also played Prince Phillip in The Crown
13. Pitfall: DANGER.
14. Exam for jrs.: PSAT.
17. Pro wrestler Flair: RIC.
18. Horse track structure: GATE - Churchill Downs has introduced a starting GATE with 20 stalls.
23. Econ course: STATS.
25. The usual fare: NORMS.
28. Straight shooter?: ARROW - Like him or not, he is a
32. Barely ahead: UP ONE - The Mets will take it.
34. Sat in park: IDLED.
35. Minutiae: TRIVIA - The backbone of crosswords
36. Most steady: SUREST.
37. USWNT great Krieger: ALI - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ United States Women's National Team
39. Base camp for a snowball fight: ICE FORT - A modest one
40. "I need you to stop bringing this up": LET IT GO - A superintendent once told me, "I heard you the fourth time!"
42. Larb, for one: SALAD -The Thai word larb (ลาบ) means "chopped up". Larb is a traditional Thai dish of minced meat salad that's spicy, salty, and tangy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Julius Tausig. I did a quick web search on Julius and found this: Julius Tausing Clue and Answer Talk about meta! As I could find no previous references to Julius here on the Corner, it appears that this might be his L. A. Times debut. If so, congratulations, Julius!
In any event, in today's puzzle we have a theme that involves adding the letter L in order to morph common English usage into the sought-after answers to the clues. The reveal is found at:
64 Across: Accepted defeat, and what 17-, 24-, 40-, and 51-Across did?: TOOK THE L. Took the Loss.
These four clues "took the L" and incorporated it:
17 Across: Hideout that's not very hidden?: OPEN LAIR. From Open Air.
24 Across: Times of year for competitive baking?: FLOUR SEASONS. The Fours Seasons of the year. Hmmm, we'll go with Carole King but it could have been Vivaldi . . . or Fankie Valli.
40 Across: Hip-hop subgenre dedicated to the woes of hair loss?: BALD RAP. A Bad Rap, more often a Bum Rap (which was an answer in one of our puzzles last week), is an unjust accusation. Bad Rap might be redundant.
51 Across: Assorted barrettes and clips?: HAIR PIN BLEND. From Hair Pin Bend or, more often, Hair Pin turn.
This is how everything looks in the grid:
Here are the non-themers:
Across:
1. "Thriller" debut channel: MTV. MTV was the pioneering broadcaster of music videos. "Thriller" was a mega-hit album by Michael Jackson.
4. Dull pain: ACHE. A sensation frequently experienced in our puzzles.
14. __ milk: OAT. SOY would have fit the allotted space but none of the letters would have worked out.
15. Dramatic outburst during court testimony: LIAR. We have LAIR in the puzzle so why not LIAR?
16. Like Enigma machine messages: IN CODE. The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
19. Small beard: GOATEE.
Maynard G. Krebs
20. Recipient of a wish list: GENIE. Hand up for thinking SANTA. The N would have worked out.
21. Zen paradox: KOAN. This solver was introduced to the KOAN by a High School English teacher. A KOAN is a puzzling, often paradoxical statement, anecdote, question, or verbal exchange, used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and a means of gaining spiritual awakening.
23. Shirt: TOP. TEE would have fit and the T would have worked out.
28. Historic fort near Charleston: SUMTER. Best known as the site for the opening of the Civil War.
31. Quark-antiquark particle: MESON.
Beyond This Solver's Ken
32. "That is not __!": parents' words of warning: A TOY. OKAY would have fit and the Y would have worked out.
33. __-Cola: COCA. We'll do Easter at 11 Down.
36. Rite place: ALTAR. I just learned than my neighbor lives a secret life as a priest. It's his ALTAR ego.
39. Greek god of pastures: PAN.
42. Pro: ACE. Not fer. An accomplished person.
43. Stood out: SHONE.
45. MRI output: SCAN
46. __ novel: DIME. DIMEnovel is a term for cheap, sensational paperbacks that were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the U.S. Alas, the price component has gone the way of Two Buck Chuck.
47. Composer Frederick: LOEWE. Were you thinking Classical Music? Chopin, perhaps? In this case, Alan Lerner's collaborator. One example from their prolific output:
49. Got down pat: NAILED. There was an off-color joke involving Richard Nixon going around in the '70's. NAILED was not part of it.
55. Insect whose colony has a queen: ANT. What did the Pink Panther say after stepping on the ANT hill? Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant . . . .
56. "Ah, got it": I SEE. Indeed.
57. Garden party?: GNOME. Party, in this case, means an individual that might be found in a garden. Not a Ricky Nelson reference.
61. Split: IN HALF. Not "split" as in it's time to leave. Not a bowling reference. Not a reference to a city in Croatia.
66. __ 101: skyscraper in an Asian capital: TAIPEI. Designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.
Taipei 101 Tower
67. Latin year: ANNO. A translation clue/answer.
68. Sick: ILL.
69. Turn on the charm?: INCANT.
incant
/Än-kănt′/
transitive verb To chant or intone (ritual or magic words).To state solemnly, to chant. To recite an incantation
70. Scorch: SEAR. CHAR would have fit and the R would have worked out.
71. Loving poem: ODE.
Down:
1. First commercial synthesizer maker: MOOG.
2. Cassette: TAPE. State of the art at one time.
3. Powerful engine banned by F1: V-TEN. The F1, in this case, stands for Formula One auto racing.
4. Gene variant: ALLELE. Fortunately, for this solver, the word was remembered even if the spelling was not. Thanks, perps. From Wikipedia, "An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through single nucleotide polymorphisms, but they can also have insertions and deletions of up to several thousand base pairs." Got that?
5. Longtime KGB spycraft enemy: CIA.
6. Poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern: HAIKU. Hand up for thinking MoeKu.
7. Wrong move: ERROR. Oops!
8. Contract endorser: SIGNEE. A word that we do not often hear. . . or see.
9. Musician Brian: ENO. A frequent visitor.
10. Obama-era legislation, initially: ACA.
11. Small rabbit: COTTONTAIL.
Danny Kaminsky
12. Ancient theater of Ephesus: ODEON.
13. Cries: WEEPS. I saw my sister WEEPing uncontrollably, worried that her Economics degree wouldn’t land her a job. I said, “Are you having a financial cry, sis?”
18. "Swell!": NIFTY. Slang. Bitchen'. Rad. Far Out! Groovy.
22. Eritrea's capital: ASMARA. A place not so frequently visited in our puzzles.
25. Killer whale: ORCA. A mammal which frequently visits our puzzles.
26. "By yesterday!" letters: ASAP. Alternative cluing: Recent aquittee.
27. Spanish sun: SOL.
en español
28. Drains: SAPS.
29. Zion locale: UTAH. Zion National Park.
30. Like an ancient obelisk: MONOLITHIC. This could have been clued with a reference to 2001 A Space Odyssey.
34. Twins who created the fashion label The Row: OLSENS. This solver did not know about the fashion line but Mary-Kate and Ashley OLSEN are twins who often appear in our puzzles.
35. Public health org.: CDC. Is it going to be NIH? No.
37. Fictional company whose products tend to malfunction: ACME. A Wile E. Coyote reference.
38. Woodwind insert: REED.
40. Appliance alert: BEEP.
41. Great-aunt of Prince George: ANNE. We fought a revolution to separate from the British royals. Some of us pay them very little or no attention. Thanks perps.
44. Scand. land: NOR. Probably not Juilius' favorite answer.
46. "That __ hurt": DIDN'T.
48. Video game that uses a balance board: WII FIT.
50. Cambodia's __ Wat: ANGKOR.
Photo By MM
51. Part of Hispaniola: HAITI.
52. Diplomat Kofi: ANNAN.
Former U.N. Secretary General
53. Releases with bugs, probably: BETAS. A computer coding/debugging reference.
54. Sierra __: LEONE. Often visited in our puzzles.
58. Weird or cringe, in Gen Alpha slang: OHIO. As for OHIO used in this context, this I know from nothing. But Merriam-Webster does: The Gen alpha slang use of Ohio as an insult originated on the Internet shortly after a series of memes about the US state of Ohio began circulating in the late twenty-teens. The most common type of these memes is the "only in Ohio" variety, which describes something weird or awkward and then claims that it happens in Ohio.
59. Combine: MELD. MESH would have fit and both the M and the E would have worked out.
60. Vogue rival: ELLE. A magazine frequently read in our puzzles.
62. Shrinks' org.: APA.
63. Actor Cariou: LEN. LEoNard Joseph Cariou
65. "Based __ true story": ON A. When it says this you can bet that significant liberties have been taken with the facts in the name of entertainment.
Yours truly will be heading to the mountains in a bit and will be skipping the next couple of otherwise-scheduled blogging cycles. See all y'all after returning.
Today's constructor is Adam Simpson who has appeared in the New York Times, and here on Saturday November 5, 2022, reviewed by Husker Gary. His simple theme answers today sound the same at the beginning and the end ...
20A. Arm of the North Atlantic Ocean: CARIBBEAN SEA. I'm sorry I couldn't find an up-to-date version of this map.😀
28A Chakra associated with higher consciousness: INNER EYE. Chakra is a Sanskrit term denoting one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient Hindu or Buddhist meditation practices. The INNER EYE is also called the "Mind's eye" or the "Third eye". Here's a Western-oriented beginner's guide from Healthline.
The Seven Chakras
36A Perfect for no one else: UNIQUELY YOU. This might have been clued as "Bespoke"
48A Crude nickname: TEXAS TEA. "Crude" as in crude oil. It may also refer to a cocktail made from tequila, bourbon whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, and flavorings -- here's a recipe. WARNING: it is highly recommended that you refrain from horseback riding for at least one hour after imbibing ...
Texas Tea ... and in this case 3 hours!
Here's the reveal ...
56A. Sharp device in a classic desk set, or a literal and phonetic description of the ends of 20-, 28-, 36-, and 48-Across?: LETTER OPENER. Each theme fill opens with a circled single letter and ends with a three letter homophone for the opening letter. I found the circles helpful with the solve but YMMV.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Green blob on a taco, familiarly: GUAC. Short for guacamole. Here's a recipe.
Guacamole
5. Un-locked: BALD. Clever clue!
9. They're opened at bars: TABS. CAPS and TAPS fit but didn't perp.
13. Not behind: ANTI.
14. English horn kin: OBOE. Here's the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto 1- Rondo Pastorale performed by oboist Zully Casallas ...
18. Airport transport, for some: UBER. I wouldn't depend on this service unless I had a lot of wait time at the airport after check-in.
19. Singer/actress Mandy: MOORE. Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single Candy, which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut studio album, So Real (1999), received platinum certification. Here's the title track from her reissue of So Real, I Wanna Be With You (2000), which became Moore's first top 40 single, peaking at 24 on the chart ...20. [Theme clue]
23. Like some rebates: MAIL IN.
26. As of now: YET.
27. Blast letters: TNT. Cue Wile E. Coyote ...
28. [Theme clue]
31. Bumps in the night, e.g.: NOISES.
33. Preserve, in a way: CAN. The original preservation method used glass jars, a method still used today in home canning. The process for canning was invented by a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert (17 November 1749 – 1 June 1841), a French confectioner and inventor who, in the early 19th century, invented airtight food preservation on commission from the French government which was looking for a way to supply the military with food during the Winter months.
Appert canning jar
34. Cleaned the slate: ERASED.
36. [Theme clue]
41. Brand of dryer sheets: BOUNCE. The first dryer sheers were invented in the late 1960s, by Conrad Gaiser and his wife Audrey, who called the brand Tumble Puff. They sold their invention to Proctor and Gamble, whose marketing mavens changed the name to Bounce ...
42. MoMA locale: NYC. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is in New York City. According to the Internet sage, this is the most popular work of art on display there ...
Larva watcher Butterfly house Ladew Topiary Gardens
61. __ Scotia: NOVA.
62. "You had the right __!": IDEA.
66. Alicia Keys album with the hit "No One": AS I AM. This lady has a remarkable bio -- Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 , was signed by Columbia Records at 15, and later signed with J Records to release her debut studio album, Songs in A Minor (2001). The album met with critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide and winning five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. Here's the clue song, No One ...
67. Like most items at a yard sale: USED. And they're sold AS IS, which is USED often in crosswords.
68. [Keep scritching my head]: PURR. My last fill -- I finally realized that [the imperative] is coming from a cat!
71. Kings or Wizards: TEAM. NBA teams to be exact. The Sacramento Kings are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and the Washington Wizards are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference
5. Damon role: BOURNE. The Bourne franchise consists of action-thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series. The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon. Here's a fan trailer ... 6. Comedian Jacobson: ABBI. Abbi Jacobson (born 1984) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and illustrator. She co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series Broad City (2014–2019) with Ilana Glazer, based on the web series of the same name. This is the story of how Abbi met Ilana ... 7. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB. Lisa Anne Loeb (born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with Stay (I Missed You) from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract. Here's the clue song ...
8. Bowler: DERBY. The Kirwood DERBY was used as a long running 1D in the greatest cartoon series of all time -- Rocky and Bullwinkle ...
9. Like marinara: TOMATOEY. SAUCY wasn't filling enough.
10. Lots and lots: A TON.
11. Promotes: BOOSTS.
12. Calm and collected: SERENE. If you're not calm and collected try re-reading the link in 28A -- it might help you become more SERENE.
16. Ushers to a table: SEATS. An improvement over the verb USH that we saw last week.
21. Run on TV: AIR.
22. Itty-bitty: EENSY.
23. MC's aid: MIC. Master of Ceremonies is abbreviated, so Microphone is abbreviated.
24. De Armas of "Knives Out": ANA. In this scene, Marta (played by Ana) "accidentally" gives Harlan (played by Christopher Plummer) an overdose of morphine. But like just about everything else in this movie, that's not what actually happened ...
29. "Beef" Emmy winner Steven: YEUN. Beef is an American comedy-drama television anthology series created by Lee Sung Jin for Netflix. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, respectively; two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. 30. Construct: ERECT.
32. Binding words: I DO.
35. Not aweather: ALEE.
37. Org. for Kings and Wizards: NBA. For details on these TEAMS, see clue 71A.
38. Rays made of charged particles: ION BEAMS. An ion beam is a stream of charged particles. Ion beams have many uses in electronics manufacturing (principally ion implantation) and other industries. There are many ion beam sources, some derived from the mercury vapor thrusters developed by NASA in the 1960s. The most widely used ion beams are of singly-charged ions.
Ion beam rocket
39. "__ Eye": makeover series on Netflix: QUEER.
40. "Once more __ the breach": UNTO. From Shakespeare's history play Henry V. The full quote is
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead -- Act 3 Scene 1.
The play recounts the Battle of Agincourt in the Hundred Years War, where the British won the day, despite being outnumbered by the French by at least two to one. There have been several adaptations of this play, including the 1989 film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh ... 43. "Absolutely!": YES.
44. Curtain climber, maybe: CAT.
45. Slangy "I'd like to hear from you!": HOLLA. DNK this slang -- sounds as if it must be yelled to be heard ...
46. Discomfort: UNEASE.
47. Ibuprofen brand: MOTRIN. Here's everything you need to know about Ibuprofen.
49. Musical film featuring a roller-skating Olivia Newton-John: XANADU. Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film starring Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty in China. The city appears in the 1816 poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge quoted in the film. Here's the Magic scene with Newton-John and Beck ... 50. Blackjack card: ACE. Blackjack is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as "twenty-one". Here are the rules.
Ace of Spades
51. Play lines: SCRIPT.
54. Dunkin' treat: DONUT.
57. Spot on the air: TV AD.
58. One of the Spice Girls: POSH. The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice").
Victoria Beckham "Posh Spice"
59. At any time: EVER.
63. Scheduled: DUE.
64. Period piece: ERA. A period piece is a drama that transports us to a past era and can be thought of as synonymous with that ERA. E.g. Teri and I recently watched a period piece called Doctor Thorne, a 2016 four-part television drama series adaptation of the 1858 Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, scripted by Julian Fellowes and intended to transport us to Victorian England. Here's a trailer ...
65. Upper limb: ARM. AKA the humerus, not to be confused with the "funny bone", which is just below it in the upper end of the ULNA in the lower arm.😀
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proofreading and for her constructive criticism.
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